Labour’s Keir Starmer will vow to get the country building and offer parents better childcare as he pledges to kickstart the economy at his General Election manifesto launch
Keir Starmer today will promise a jobs revolution by getting the country building again and offering parents better childcare.
The Labour leader will set out his plan to kickstart the economy after 14 years of Tory chaos. As he launches his election manifesto in Manchester, Mr Starmer will pledge that wealth creation is “our number one priority”.
After figures yesterday showed the economy has flatlined, he will promise to turn things around. “If we could grow the economy at anything like the level the last Labour Government did, that’s an extra £70billion worth of investment for our public services,” he will say.
A Labour source said the theme of the manifesto will be: “Change, change, change! Growth, growth, growth!”
As polls suggest he’s on the verge of becoming Prime Minister, Mr Starmer will unveil his blueprint that will see an overhaul of job centres and efforts to tackle health and mental health challenges to get more people back into work. He will pledge to reform the immigration and skills system so the British workforce is fit for the decades ahead.
Labour will create 650,000 jobs in the “industries of the future” by investing in new technology, such as renewable power. Mr Starmer will overhaul planning rules to “build the railways, roads, labs and 1.5million homes we need”.
He will argue that restoring economic stability will allow businesses to plan and create the certainty needed for investment decisions In contrast to the “desperate, unfunded wishlist of the Tory manifesto”, he will say that Labour has a “serious, fully costed, fully funded plan for change”.
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It will include a “tax lock” for working people – a pledge not to raise rates of income tax, national insurance or VAT. Corporation tax will be capped at its current rate of 25%. Mr Starmer will say: “Wealth creation is our number one priority. Growth is our core business – the end and the means of national renewal. The mandate we seek from Britain at this election is for economic growth.
“This changed Labour Party has a plan for growth. We are pro-business and pro-worker. The party of wealth creation. We have a plan in this manifesto that represents a total change in direction, that is laser-focused on our cause. A Government back in the service of you and your family.”
Mr Starmer has already set out the first six steps Labour will take if it gets into government, including recruiting thousands of extra teachers and police officers, as well as increasing the number of NHS appointments and setting up Great British Energy.
In a chat with the Mirror, Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves gave a strong hint that Labour will promise to introduce a cap on care costs in the manifesto. “We do recognise we need to fix the problem of social care, but I had better not steal Wes’s thunder,” she said, referring to Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting.
Rishi Sunak yesterday insisted he had “absolutely not” lost hope of winning the General Election as Tory ministers resorted to warning about the risk of Labour winning a “supermajority”. Asked by journalists if the change in tone showed the Tories had conceded defeat, the Prime Minister said: “No absolutely not… I’m really energised to now have a chance to put a very clear plan to the country and talk about all the things I want to do.”